The present invention relates to an improved method for treatment of feed water for livestock and other animals to reduce bacterial contamination while at the same time improving live performance.
Among today's meat producers, it is increasingly important to inhibit diseases caused by bacterial infection. The portal of infection most often is via the animals' mouth into its digestive tract. Thereafter, the harmful bacteria may remain in a carrier state such as feces and spread to an entire common population group. For instance, the harmful bacteria may, in turn, be passed from animal to animal by means of feces contamination in a common water source, common feed source or licking of other animals. Free flying birds may also pose a source of contamination in both water and feed. Accordingly, owing to increased population density of animals, for example, growing pens, the reduction and inhibition of such sources of bacterial contamination is essential.
It is generally known, Colibacillosis occurs in all species of newborn farm animals and is a major cause of losses in this age group. Gut edema, enteric colibacillosis of feeder pigs and mastitis caused by Escherichia coli are also important diseases commonly cause by this organism.
Diarrhea in newborn farm animals under 15 days of age is one of the most common diseases which the large animal clinician is faced with in practice. It is a significant cause of economic loss in cattle and swine herds and may assume even greater importance in the future as livestock production becomes more intensified. The effective treatment and control of diarrhea in calves and piglets has been frustrating and usually empirical because the precise etiology cannot usually be determined quickly enough.
For many years following the early work of Smith and Little in which they indicated that E. coli was the causative agent of calf diarrhea, it has been accepted that this was the primary pathogen in diarrhea calves and the term colibacillosis has been in common use. Although the existence of colibacillosis in calves, piglets and lambs is still recognized as a disease, diarrhea in newborn calves, for example, can be caused by many different enteropathogens influenced by several epidemiological factors. Thus, colibacillosis is presented in its usual section and the viral diarrheas of newborn farm animals has been expanded in the light of new information.
Many interrelated epidemiological factors have been associated with a high incidence of calf diarrhea and have added to the difficulty of understanding the complexity of the disease. The effects of nutrition of the pregnant dam on the quantity and quality of colostrum and the vigor of the calf are thought to be important but there is little supporting evidence. Changes in weather and wet, windy and cold weather are thought to precipitate outbreaks of the disease in beef calves raised outdoors (3). Increases in population density in calf houses, and on calving grounds, resulting in a high infection rate may in part explain the high incidence in large intensified operations. Some studies have shown that the major contributing factor to dairy calf mortality is the care provided by the calf attendant. Not infrequently, however, outbreaks can occur in herds in which the management is excellent and not uncommonly an etiological diagnosis cannot be made.
Moreover, Salmonellosis is a disease of all animal species caused by a number of different species of salmonellae and manifested clinically by one of three major syndromes; a peracute septicemia, an acute enteritis or a chronic enteritis.
Except in the newborn, especially foals, infection with a salmonella is usually not a single cause of the disease salmonellosis. The response to infection with a Salmonella sp. varies depending on the size of the challenge dose, the immunological status of the animal, itself dependent on colostrum intake in neonates, previous exposure to infection and expose to stress in older animals. It is generally accepted that the intervention of some precipitating factor such as transport, intercurrent disease, anesthesia and surgery, dosing with antibiotics or anthelmintics, acute deprivation of food, or parturition is usually necessary to cause the disease, salmonellosis, as distinct from infection with Salmonella spp.
Many species of salmonellae are capable of causing salmonellosis in animals. The following list includes only the common ones:
Cattle:S. typhimurium, S. dublin, S. newportSheep and goats:S. typhimurium, S. dublin, S. anatumPigs:S. typhimurium, S. choleraesuisHorse:S. typhimurium, S. anatum, S. newport,S. enteriditis, S. heidelberg,S. arizona, S. angona (75).
In any discussion about salmonellosis in large animals there is likely to be a significant difference of opinion about its clinical behavior, particularly with respect to the ease with which it spreads and the ease with which it can be controlled. Part of the difference is probably related to the different ways in which animals are managed, particularly the intensity of stocking, and whether or not the animals are housed. But another, and probably greater, part of the difference is because of the different epidemiological characteristics of the Salmonella species.
Thus, salmonellosis in cattle is a very serious and continuing disease in areas where it is caused principally by S. dublin. But where it is caused by S. typhimurium the disease is sporadic and even though it is highly fatal to individual animals it is not really a serious disease.
Although there are probably similar differences with the other species they are not particularly well defined. The difference between the diseases caused by S. dublin and S. typhimurium is the marked tendency for S. dublin to persist in cattle and create a significant reservoir of carrier animals. S. typhimurium does not do so as much, so that the disease is likely to subside after an initial exposure, and to recur only when the source of infection, from rodents or feedstuffs, or sewage or slurry, reappears. This does not, of course, preclude the disease from persisting in a flock or herd for long periods.
Because there are so many different strains of E. coli, microbiologists classify it into more than 170 serogroups. Within each serogroup there are one or more serotypes. For example, 0126; H and 0126: H27 represent two serotypes of E. coli, with the 0126 signifying the particular serogroup to which these serotypes belong. E. coli 0157: H7 was identified for the first time at the U.S. Centers of Disease Control in 1975. However, it was not until seven years later, in 1982, that E. coli 0157: H7 was conclusively determined to be a cause of enteric disease. Specifically, in 1982, following outbreaks of foodborne illness that involved several cases of bloody diarrhea, E. coli 0157: H7 was firmly associated with hemorrhagic colitis. As a result of this association, E. coli 0157: H7 was designated as an enterohemorrhagic E. colic, or EHEC.
The E. coli 0157: H7 bacterium is believed to mostly live in the intestines of cattle, but has also been found in the intestines of chickens, deer, sheep, and pigs. E. coli 0157: H7 does not make the animals that carry it ill; the animals are merely the reservoir for the bacteria.
Meat typically becomes contaminated with E. coli 0157: H7 during the slaughtering process, when the contents of the animal's intestine are allowed to come into contact with the carcass. Unless the carcass is sanitized somehow, the E. coli bacteria are eventually mixed into the meat, as it is ground into hamburger. Because the bacteria is mixed into the meat during the grinding process, and not just on the surface, thorough cooking is required to prevent E. coli 0157: H7 poisoning when the ground beef is eaten by the consumer.
Contaminated meat looks and smells normal. Although the number of organisms required to cause an infection are not known, it is suspected to be very small.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,932,400 the instant inventor disclosed a novel method and apparatus for inhibiting shipping fever in livestock which further improved digestibility of consumed feed. In more detail, the Persinger invention provided a unique method comprising the steps of producing a supply of ozone and nitrous oxide gas from ambient air; effecting direct contact between the ozone and nitrous oxide gas and a supply of water by means of a bubbler device to produce a prescribed hydrogen peroxide-nitrous oxide content; continuing such contact to a prescribed range and providing the resultant water supply for use as feed water to the livestock to be treated. Accordingly, by consumption of the unique resultant solution, the treated livestock was found to have increased digestibility of feed. Such treatment was further found to inhibit the growth of pathogenic organisms, thus inhibiting cattle disease such as shipping fever.
The virtues of treating water with ozone gas has long been recognized. For instance, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,176,061, issued to Stopka, there is described an apparatus and method for treatment of fluid with ozone. As recognized by the Stopka patent disclosure, the ability of ozone to purify drinking water has been appreciated for some time. According to Bringmann, the rate of destruction of bacteria by ozone is one to two orders of magnitude faster than chlorine. Bringmann. G., 1954 Determination of The Lethal Activity of Chlorine and Ozone on E. Coli, Zhyg. Infektionskar. 139:130–139.
Among known treatment solutions it is generally recognized that ozone treatment of water will remove several undesirable substances: including pathogens such as fungi, mercpatans and E. coli bacteria, pesticide, etc.
A variety of apparatus is also known for such purposes.
For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 3,726,404 discloses an apparatus for purifying water wherein a batch of water is contained in a tank and fine bubbles of ozone are allowed to rise through the water. Once the batch of water is treated with sufficient amount of ozone, the batch is transferred to a storage tank.
In more detail, one suitable ozone generator means is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,308,844 issued to James Persinger on Jan. 5, 1982. The disclosure is hereby incorporated by this reference. The apparatus, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,308,844, comprises an ozone generator cell which acts on ambient air supply. The generator cell produces ozone, oxygen and oxygen ions in the air supply. The generator cell comprises metallic plates and disposed adjacent to one another and separated from each other by a dialectic material and an air gap.
A potential is induced across the adjacent plates and causing ionization of oxygen and nitrogen in the air flowing through the gap which results in the production of ozone gas, nitrous oxide an ionizing air particles.
Accordingly, those skilled in the art have recognized a significant need for a convenient method for reducing bacterial contamination in livestock and other animals. Moreover, there is a need to reduce sources of contamination to other animals such as cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and poultry from feces common in water sources, feed sources, and licking of other animals. The present invention fulfills these needs.